Match Reports: Women's Round 14 + Season wrap up

Mother Nature really cranked up her air con on Saturday for the Oggettes last game of the season against top placed West Brunswick, providing everyone with nice wind swept hairdo’s, which was a great accompaniment for the bronzed tans many of the girls were sporting.

Despite the challenging conditions, the team showed up focused and ready to play for their spot in the finals, particularly after hearing that Old Haileybury got the win in their earlier game. Coach Toby “I’ll come back to you in 10 minutes with the word im looking for” Boyles final words to the team before taking the field mirrored what our skip, Libby “Hard Nut” Graham had said at training during the week - ignore what the scoreboard says and just go out there and have some good old fashioned F.U.N.

Team photographer for the day, Michelle “young professionals with full time jobs need a cleanse every now and then” Pham earned her money (we didn’t pay her) capturing some great footage during warm up and on the side line but got a bit distracted by her cheerleading/DJ duties when it came time to the actual game.

Annabel “im still the fastest thing here” Shannon proved that even gale force winds can’t slow her down, running down the Brunswick mids early in the game. However, with the wind in Brunswick’s favour in the first quarter, the ball barely made it into the Oggettes half, despite our backlines best efforts to clear the ball, with them scoring 4 early goals and keeping us scoreless at 26-0.

With the wind on our good side in the second quarter, the Oggettes returned serve, keeping West Brunswick scoreless whilst we clawed back at the scoreboard. Penalties in the 50 saw us get 2 goals on the board thanks to Lucy “if you look good, you play good” Kini and Jess “Brucie” Brotch, closing the gap to 26-13 to Brunswick at half time.

The first half showed us that whichever team had the wind in the favour was going to dominate the quarter, so when we returned to the field after the break, the Oggettes had a new startling line up of 2 forwards and 16 defence. Amelia “they ran into my shoulder” Cronin and Annabel “I don’t need anyone else on the dance floor” Young were outstanding in defence and provided us with some much needed breakaways whilst Molly “I went to Bali last night” Borschmann used her bronzed skin to blind her opponent and win the ruck in some very stressful situations right in front of Brunswick goals. Despite some great plays, Brunswick managed to get 2 more on the board, extending their lead to 40-13 going into the last 20.

Stevie “you girls remind me of a cookie” Lansdell gave the team one last pep talk about enjoying our final quarter and putting the word of the day ‘F.U.N’ into practice. (Go)Anna “see you at church on Sunday” Brodie was again working behind the barbie, getting herself another sausage roll to finish off her season as the Oggettes top scorer. Despite a great finish keeping the opposition scoreless, Brunswick and the weather were just too good on the day, with the final score showing 40-22 in their favour, putting a sad end to the Oggettes stellar first season.

Unlike the Oscars where I would now be getting a standing ovation (clapped off the stage so everyone could go home), as Saturday was the last game of the Oggettes season it is only fitting that we take a bit of time to say some much needed and well deserved thank you’s. So, on behalf of all the Oggettes we would like to thank…

Everyone who has helped out our team in terms of coaching and assisting throughout the year, whether it be coaching our Reserve team (thanks Ed!), trainings, umpiring, running water, volunteering, cooking us dinner etc etc, it has been a massive help and greatly appreciated by all of us.

To the original O.G.(s) - the boys - thankyou for giving up part of Como every Tuesday and Thursday so that we could train. Every Oggette will agree that having you guys to train with and learn from, has had a massive impact on our skills and knowledge of the game and made coming to training each week that much more enjoyable, particularly when the shirts vs skins drills came out. Your patience and support (on and off the field) for the girls has been great and we can’t wait to come back and join you all next year.

Nick “the ladies president” Edwards for taking on the role of team manager and being our number 1 supporter. Your enthusiasm for the team is infectious and we couldn’t think of anyone better to represent us.

Pete “Yoda’ Graham for taking on the role of assistant coach and imparting his infinite footy knowledge onto us. A lot of us barely knew the rules of AFL let alone how to hold the ball at the start of the season, but thanks to Pete we can now consecutively run, bounce AND kick the ball… sometimes.

Jimmie “his hair always looks better than any of the girls” Wright for leading from the front and making sure that women’s footy and all the Oggettes felt supported and part of the club from day 1. Thankyou for being at all of our games, coffee in one hand, dog in the other, cheering us on, and always being dressed to impress despite the early starts.

Stevie “I’ll show you how to sing the OGs song” Lansdell for his amazing pre game, mid game, half time, side line and post game speeches that always managed to leave everyone in stitches yet at the same time pumped up and motivated to “kick some ass”. You have brought a lot of fun and laughter to the team and have been a great support to Toby and all the Oggettes.

Lucy “two touches is all I need” Gubbins, Emme “Reading is my favourite past time” Richardson and Ally “im dying from the flu but can I please be the guys water girl” Kirkwood aka ‘The Dream Team’ for leading our team and doing a lot of behind the scenes work with Lib to make sure that everything always ran smoothly at trainings and on game days. Your passion and enthusiasm for the team is contagious and you guys are great examples for the rest of the Oggettes to follow.

Libby “I gave my shoulders and my voice to this team” Graham who, most might not know, has been tirelessly working two full time jobs for the past year - one that she actually gets employed to do, and the other as the best captain of all VAFA woman’s teams. If it wasn’t for Lib and all the hard work she does on and off the field for the team, we would all still be wearing black shorts, white socks, the guys old training tops and playing with the old deflated size 5 balls. Lib was the driving force behind the OGs getting a women’s side and we couldn’t have asked for a better Hard Nut to lead our team and represent what it means to be an Oggette.

Last but not least we need to thank Coach Toby “Pingu” Boyle, who probably had no idea what he was getting himself into when he accepted the coaching position for OG’s first ever women’s side of 60+ rookie players. From the start you have been dedicated to making sure that we all got as much out of footy as possible and always had fun, even contacting other teams in our division to make reserve teams to ensure that as many of us as possible could play each weekend. We loved how our amazing performances inspired you and made you miss footy so much that you went out one weekend and tried to play and ended up on crutches for three weeks.

The number of Oggettes that want to continue training, despite our season being finished, is testament to the environment that Toby, Lib, the leadership team and the wider OGS community has built for us and the amazing culture of OGS. Congratulations Oggettes on a great season and watch this space next year #Oggettes2018.